Faced with
what seems to be an increasing level of misleading rhetoric about
conservative positions on public policy issues, The National
Center for Public Policy Research has resolved to help bridge
the gap between rhetoric and reality.

Disclaimer: We freely acknowledge
that not all conservatives share every view related as "what
conservatives think," nor does every speaker of what our
editors perceive to be a left-wing comment think of themselves
as "liberal." However, unanimity is impossible on questions
such as these. We therefore offer our best judgment, and offer
apologies to anyone who believes we could have done better.

Persons with
an opinion on any of our judgments are welcome to write us at
[email protected]. Be sure to tell us
if you object to having your comments reproduced, as we may otherwise
post an occasional comment on our blog.

Photo of Valley
Forge National Historic Park by James Lemass

Single-Payer
Health Care: Could America Do It Without Compromising Quality?

The Left Says:

"...In countries
with national health insurance, urgent care is always provided
immediately. Other countries do experience some waits for elective
procedures (like cataract removal), but maintaining the U.S.'s
same level of health expenditures (twice as much as the next-highest
country), waits would be much shorter or even non-existent."

Nationalized
health systems set fixed annual budgets for medical services.
This has the effect of rationing medical care and creating waiting
lists for treatment.

In a private system, medical services providers make more money
by providing more services.

In a single-payer system, the incentives are reversed. The more
patients a provider treats, and the sicker the patients are,
the quicker the provider will deplete its budget. When that happens,
it will be forced to suspend services until new money is available.
In other words, rationing.